"How Does a Moment Last Forever" is a song written by lyricist Tim Rice and composer Alan Menken for the Disney live action film Beauty and the Beast (2017), a remake of the animated musical of the same name. This Broadway-inspired ballad is performed in the movie by American actor Kevin Kline in his role as Maurice. It describes the relationship between his character and that of his wife, Belle's deceased mother. Later in the film, Belle (Emma Watson) performs the song as she discovers the truth about her mother's fate. "How Does a Moment Last Forever" was also recorded by Canadian pop singer Celine Dion, whose version was also included on the film's soundtrack, released on March 10, 2017. Her version plays over the ending credits of the film.
In the original animated film, Maurice does not sing at all. The remake, however, explores both Belle's and the Beast's past. Belle's backstory serves to build a foundation for her relationship with the Beast. For director Bill Condon, adding detail to both Belle's and the Beast's past was necessary for the audiences to understand the characters: "They're both outsiders, but how did Belle wind up being so different from everybody else in a town where nobody understands her, and how did the Beast become the person who earned that curse? That's the stuff we started to fill in", he said.
"How Does a Moment Last Forever" is a ballad and its lyrics deals with the theme of nostalgia. According to Menken, it’s about hanging on to precious moments. In Beauty and the Beast, it is performed twice, first by Maurice when he reminisces about his deceased wife and later by Belle after she discovers her mother's fate. Dion was contacted to record a pop version of the song. Although she initially had doubts, she ultimately agreed because of the impact that recording "Beauty and the Beast" has had on her career. Although she was unable to promote her version, which prompted Disney to release "Evermore" as a single instead, the song has made an impact in certain countries due to the film's success at the box office. It was met with generally positive reviews from critics. However, some felt that the song is unmemorable and compared it negatively to other songs recorded by Dion for movie soundtracks.
Production
Director Bill Condon originally intended to include songs from the Broadway musical adaptation of Beauty and the Beast in the remake. However, Disney decided to recruit composer Alan Menken and lyricist Tim Rice to write entirely new songs for the film instead. Original Beauty and the Beast composer Menken reunited with Rice, with whom he had previously collaborated on the 1994 musical to write three new songs for the remake, including "How Does a Moment Last Forever", whose original title was "Our Song Lives On". Rice once again replaced Howard Ashman, the animated film's lyricist, who had died from HIV-related complications in 1991. The live action film marks the first collaboration between Menken and Rice in over two decades; the last time they worked together had been in the Beauty and the Beast musical. Menken believes that the songs he and Rice had written for the musical would not have translated well to the screen due to the structural differences between the two formats.
Context and use in Beauty and the Beast
One of at least nine significant changes made to the film specifically for the remake, "How Does a Moment Last Forever" was conceived to explain Belle's backstory. Her quest to find out her mother's fate serves, in the plot, as a foundation for her relationship with the Beast, who also lost his mother as a child. In Beauty and the Beast, the song is first performed by Maurice (Kline) shortly after the opening act "Belle". Belle (Watson) arrives at their house in the village and peeps on her father crafting a music box. He sings "How Does a Moment Last Forever" and reminisces about his deceased wife and their life together in Paris. After he realizes his daughter is watching him, he quickly finishes the music box, which is modelled after him and his wife and avoids to answer any of Belle's questions about her mother. "It's obvious that he's still holding on to her", wrote Bustle'''s Olivia Truffaut-Wong. This version was dubbed "Music Box" in the soundtrack listing.